CHE'RAE ADAMS-DIRECTOR/DRAMATURGE: WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

Saturday, May 12, 2007

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

"Tender" by Abi Morgan

LA Times-Critic's Choice!-“Literate yet idiomatic, Abi Morgan's trenchant drama of the human hunger for connection receives a gripping U.S. premiere by Syzygy Theatre Group. Working with striking designs, director Che'Rae Adams locates the script's nerve endings. Her sterling actors, cast for emotional quality, play it to the bone”…..David C. Nichols, Special to the LA Times

"Walking Thru the Fire" by John DiFusco

LA Times Recommended!-"Under the smooth direction of Che'Rae Adams and Janet Roston, "Walk'n" into issues that DiFusco has grappled with for a lifetiime"...David C. Nichols, LA Times

LA Weekly Go!-"Blending music, dance and poetry, writer-actor DiFusco and co-directors Che'Rae Adams and Janet Roston take the audience on a richly detailed tour of DiFusco's life."...Lovell Estell II, LA Weekly

"Bonkers to Botox" by Julianne Grossman

“Director Che'Rae Adams is a gifted pro who guides Grossman neatly and cleanly around the almost blank stage and makes terrific use of the performer's impressive voiceover talents.”… Jennie Webb, Back Stage West

"Pandora’s Trunk" by Blaine Teamer

”Field’s efforts are amplified by the fluid helming of director Che’Rae Adams"…Julio Martinez, Daily Variety

"Chesapeake" by Lee Blessing

Critic’s Pick!-“There is physical humor aplenty, and Stevens, with the ingenious help of director Che’Rae Adams, mines it for all it’s worth”….Brad Schreiber, Back Stage West

"Fixing Frank" by Ken Hanes

“Adams uses the sparse production design to great advantage, emphasizing ingeniously expressive blocking patterns and eloquent crescendos of dramatic tension to delineate the characters’ complex inter-relationships. This electrifying, supremely intelligent production easily qualifies as one of the finest offerings of the theatre year to date”…Les Spindle, Frontiers

"Freak of Nature" by Ken Hanes

“Director Che’Rae Adams effectively stages the action drawing out the script’s quirky humor and gathering gloom and she is not afraid to put some fire into a couple of sexually suggestive scenes”…Daryl H. Miller, The Daily News

CHE'RAE ADAMS NOW OFFERS SCRIPT ANALYSIS

If you want Che'Rae Adams' professional opinion on your play or screenplay, you can now purchase a personal script analysis.

To begin the process, simply e-mail a PDF or Final Draft copy of your script to cheraeadams@sbcglobal.net. Then, click the button below to send your payment. You will receive confirmation of your script/payment via phone or e-mail within a few days of receipt, so be sure to include your contact information. It is that simple!

Find out if your script is ready to be produced!

(Please allow 2-3 weeks for analysis to be completed. Price is a flat rate of $150.00 per script, must be 130 pages or less)

WRITING IS HARD AND OTHE WHINY BABY COMMENTS

Now Available!
"Writing Is Hard..." and Other Whiny Baby Comments-An Objective Approach to Looking at your Own Writing written by Che'Rae Adams based on her lectures from the Los Angeles Writer's Center Workshops with additional material byJon Bastian and Colm Byrne, illustrations by Maxwell Straight. Based on Che'Rae Adams's lectures, this concise but detailed book covers every aspect of the process of turning your story into great storytelling. Whether you have just an idea or a complete draft that needs work, the information contained herein is invaluable. Combined with many exercises and examples, "Writing Is Hard..." and Other Whiny Baby Comments is an important tool for any writer. ($20 + $4.50 shipping)

Blog Entry #7-"Where Does Genius Come From" by Che'Rae Adams

Where Does Genius Come From?

Written by Che’Rae Adams Tuesday, 30 June 2009

Michael Jackson and Elvis:

The death of Michael Jackson shocked and devastated me, as I am sure it did most of the world. I was in Memphis when I heard, doing research on Elvis for the new Cirque du Soleil show that I am performing in. Cirque flew the entire cast (over 80 of us) to Memphis to soak up the true Elvis experience. For three days, we did nothing but listen to amazing live music, eat fantastic food, and absorb the history of one of the greatest cities I’ve ever been to. The first thing I saw when I stepped off the plane in Memphis is a store in the airport completely dedicated to selling Elvis souvenirs. Little did I know, that was just the beginning…
Memphis loves Elvis! You can buy just about anything with Elvis’ face on it-clothing, jewelry, a vile of Elvis’ sweat, and even Elvis toilet seat covers! We had the opportunity to meet with members of the Memphis Mafia, Elvis’ entourage, who worked for him, protected him and loved him dearly. They encouraged us to look at the positive things about Elvis’ life and to focus on his creative genius and generosity. Jerry Schiller, one of Elvis’ closest friends, recounted how he thought it was Elvis’ lack of creative control over his career that lead him down the path of self destruction. As I toured Graceland, I could not help but think of the demons that might have lead to the untimely deaths of both Elvis and Michael Jackson; artists who were considered musical genius’.

What is genius?

According to Wikipedia, a genius is “…one who possesses great intelligence and remarkable abilities in a specific subject or shows an exceptional natural capacity of intellect and/or ability, especially in the production of creative and original work, something that has never been seen or evaluated previously. Traits often associated with genius include strong individuality, imagination, uniqueness, and innovative drive.”
The truth is that artists, especially those deemed a genius, are afraid. They are afraid to fail, especially if they achieved greatness and fame early on in life. Is it a rational fear that they will fail since they have already reached a level of fame that seemed somewhat unreachable to them in the beginning of their careers? Is it rational to be afraid of the work that they feel they were put on this earth to do? Artists, in general, have the reputation of being mentally, emotionally and financially unstable. As a society, we have made the association between creativity and suffering, and have accepted as a rule that it will always ultimately lead to anguish.

“Eat, Pray, Love”

According to Author Elizabeth Gilbert, her book "Eat, Pray, Love" was so successful that "everyone worried if she'd ever be able to repeat that creative performance. Given the pitfalls associated with being an artist (especially a writer), she found herself in the position to protect herself from these accepted rules and try to create a healthy distance between herself, her work, and what others might think about it. The concern led Gilbert to investigate how past cultures and societies handled creative people, to see if they had a saner way of helping them to manage the inherit emotional risks of creativity. "
She goes on to say that "Her search led her to ancient Greek culture and the realization that people did not happen to believe that creativity came from human beings. People believed that creativity was this divine attendant spirit that came to human beings from some distant and unknowable source for distant and unknowable reasons. The Greeks referred to these spirits of creativity as deamons. Socrates believed that he had a deamon who spoke wisdom to him from afar. The Romans had a similar idea but they called that sort of disembodied creative spirit a genius. They believed that a genius is a sort of magical divine entity who was believed to literally live in the walls of an artists studio, who would come out and sort of assist the artist with their work and would shape the outcome of that work." Voila! A physiological construct to protect Ms. Gilbert (and other artists) from the results of thier work.

Renaissance Smenaissance!

She continues "This construct was indeed the way that people thought in the West for a really long time until the Renaissance came along and everything changed. We had this big idea to put the human being at the center of the universe, above all Gods and mysteries, and suddenly there was no more room for the mystical creatures serving as our muses. People started to believe that creativity came completely from the individual and started referring to people as genius instead of having a genius. According to Ms. Gilbert, “that has proved to be way too much responsibility for one human being (especially one with a fragile human psyche) to handle. It can completely warp and distort egos and it creates all of these unmanageable expectations about performance.”

Ms. Gilbert goes on to wonder "if the pressure of our modern definition of genius been killing off our artists for the last 500 years? What if we adopted this ancient construct today?" How would it have effected Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson’s untimely deaths? My guess is that it would have helped them to release the heavy anxiety around the creation of a project and allowed them to enjoy their process and to be less tormented. So what do you say-do you believe in fairies?

(Che’Rae Adams is a freelance director and the Producing Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Writers Center. Log onto http://www.cheraeadams.com/ for more information or you can contact her at
cheraeadams@sbcglobal.net

CHE'RAE ADAMS-DIRECTOR/DRAMATURGE

Saturday, May 12, 2007

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

CHE'RAE ADAMS

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Blog Entry #7-"Where Does Genius Come From" by Che'Rae Adams

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